LVMH buys Les Echos paper from FT group

PARIS, Dec 24, 2007 (AFP) - French luxury products group LVMH said on Monday, 24th December it had bought French financial newspaper Les Echos from Britain's Pearson, owner of the Financial Times, and had agreed to sell rival title La Tribune.

The two-way deal had been announced for some time but competition authorities had made LVMH's acquisition of Les Echos conditional on the sale of the rival, but number two French financial title, La Tribune.

On Friday, the French body responsible for competition and the repression of fraud DGCCRF, a part of the economy ministry, cleared the way for LVMH to buy Les Echos.

The Pearson group had announced on November 5 that it would sell the Les Echos group, comprising also a monthly publication called Enjeux and an Internet site, to LVMH for 240 million euros (345.6 million dollars).

LVMH is expected to integrate Les Echos into its media branch, called DI Group which owns a radio station called Radio Classique, some magazines, and, until now, La Tribune.

LVMH also announced on Monday that it had agreed to sell La Tribune to the French NextRadioTV group headed by Alain Weill.